Man in the Sky
by StoneGunslinger
Summary: A man obsessed with a lost art, but more importantly, fulfilling a promise made to another man who doesn't even know its been made. This is my first fanfiction piece, some helpful tips would be greatly appreciated.
1. Perched in the Rocks

I looked down the rusty sights of my old hunting rifle. Placed below the top of a large rock outcropping, I watched the sights. No. Remember what the Lone Wanderer taught you. Don't look at your sights, look at your target. This target, one of the crew of an Enclave vertibird, was getting some relaxation at one of the Enclave's outposts. Power armor off, laser rifles still loaded but stacked neatly against the back of the tent. Idiots. But their pilot seemed itchy, like he really wanted to get back into the sky. Probably could sense me staring at him.

I had camped out outside this outpost for almost a week, watching the routine of the soldiers stationed there. Their patrols, their shifts, their vertibird supply drops and refits. This particular one had been busy blasting away at the DC ruins. Through my binoculars I had observed it hover around GNR, soldiers hanging out the sides popping rounds through Three-Dog's windows. All the while listening to him bitch about it over the radio. The Brotherhood of Steel boys starting firing back, putting a few holes in 'er. Naturally it scampered off, and landed at the camp, like I had predicted.

They stocked up on ammo, slapped some sealent on the holes, and proceeded to drink to their hearts' content. The men already stationed there looked pretty pissed that the Vertibird guys were drinking all their booze and eating all their sweets. Probably were expecting some shift relief. Poor bastards, one of the VB crew got piss drunk and slugged one right in the face. His head bounced off a metal pole. It looked like he got a concussion, they medicated him and he's been in bed for almost twelve hours. Now the garrison is exhausted, and the VB crew can't even stand up straight. Perfect time to go hunting.

The pilot was the only one who appeared to have a brain, he refrained from drinking. He was meeker, not even having power armor. Must not fit into the Vertibird cockpit. Hair neatly trimmed, thin, looked like he had spent most of his time in a lab rather than in a fight. No, he would not be the one I killed first. The one I would kill would be their commander, who looked like a classic drill sergeant. 6'3", jutting jaw, completely muscled from head to toe. Well I have a little wake up call for the bastard. Muscle isn't bulletproof. 200 yards. Slight wind from the east. I made the tiny corrections, and squeezed the trigger.

The bullet ripped through the right side of his torso. Quickly shifting my aim and maneuvering the bolt for another shot, I fired again. And again. Two more dropped, well one, the second was already laying down. That left the garrison and the pilot. Three garrison, one ineffective. Another sleeping, the final on guard. The guard dove for cover and started scanning the tops of the rocks, looking for a silouette. Dumbass. Doesn't he know that the best place for sniping is just BELOW the hilltop? He turned around, and I placed another bullet directly into his power armor's power supply. His suit froze up (or was too heavy for him to move, either case he was down). That leaves the pilot and the effective. Speaking of which, the sleeping man came running outside, saw the dead, put his hands on his head and got on his knees. I stealthed out of my hidden position, and silently made my way down towards the camp. I managed to get within fifty feet before I had to reveal myself.

"Don't do anything stupid! Keep your hands on you head or I will kill you!" I jogged closer, then noticed a shadow moving inside the tent. "You! In the tent! Get the fuck out here before I put a round through the canvas!"

Out came the pilot, hands gripping a laser rifle. I quickly snapped my rifle up to aim at him. He kept walking towards me. We were no more than ten feet apart. He fired. Or, more appropriately, misfired. I took one step, closed the gap, ripped the laser rifle out of his hands and bashed him in the stomach with it. "Never thought you'd be the one to fight back."

"They're all dead... Except for him... *coughing*, why?"

"Because. Besides, that dude in the power armor isn't dead, he's just stunned or something. Those three pieces of garbage didn't seem like the friendliest bunch. I could tell you weren't exactly friends."

*coughing* "What?"

"I've been camped up in them hills for almost a week. When you guys landed a while ago I knew I had hit jackpot. A Vertibird? Armed, crew piss drunk, easily within range and me perfectly hidden? I had been hoping for this."

"Hoping for what? Potshots at the Enclave?"

"Well those "potshots" seemed to be on target, didn't they? Buuuut to answer your first question, I was after the Vertibird. And you're gonna teach me to fly it."

"Fuck no! You'll just kill me after I do."

"Then I'll kill you now if you don't help me, then learn by myself. I taught myself to fly a plane, this thing can't be that different. Teach me, then I'll drop you off anywhere you want. Deal?"

"No."

"Have it your way." I drew my foot back and kicked him right in the balls. "Feeling a change of mind yet?"

"Fuck off."

"Alright." I ripped a nearby board off their table and struck him across the back with it. "You gonna change your mind you little bitch?"

"I. Said. FUCK OFF!"

"You know what? I think it's time to start on your face." I drew back the board for a full swing.

"No!" It came from the other man. "Look man, just teach him to fly. Those guys were assholes. Most of the Enclave are assholes. You don't owe them a damn thing."

I considered shutting him up, but if anything was going to convince him to help me it would be his "friend". I couldn't torture him much, I know he needs his arms and probably his legs, if a Vertibird is anything like the plane I had been experimenting with. That, and I didn't want blood all over the inside of my new ride.  
"I know it's just... Nevermind. You're right! You're right. They were complete assholes. Okay man, I'll help you. As long as your... offer?... remains open and you promise not to hurt me."

"Ahem."

"Or him. Promise not to hurt him either."

"Agreed."

"Alright then. On one more condition, I'll help you."

"Which is?"

"You have to give me a flight in that plane you mentioned eariler."

"Deal." I reached down, grabbed his hand, and shook it. "Now get in the chopper, and don't try anything. One shot to your rotor and the only place you'll be going is hell." I pointed to the other guy, still on his knees. "You! Do whatever the hell you want, I got nuthin' against you. Aside from you being Enclave."

I jumped into the Vertibird and told the pilot to take off. With directions, I guided him to my hideout. An old airport, complete with a two-mile long runway and a still-intact hangar. I heard the pilot ask: "How in hell did you find this place?"

"Well, one day when I was just a little kid, I climbed to the top of the Washington Monument. This was before Three Dog and the Brotherhood converted it to a broadcasting tower, so I had to actually climb to the top. I found that little room up there, and crawled out of it and onto the very top. I stood there, highest point in the Capital Wasteland, and I swear the sky was so clear you could see forever. I spotted this place, between the peaks of the northern mountain ridge, and it appeared deserted. Most mutants don't go p north, the Enclave are usually more concerned with the Brotherhood, and the raiders probably don't even know it exists... I took a note of it's general direction and climbed down. When the muties and the Brotherhood turned the place into a fucking warzone, it was no place for a ten year old. I went to-"

"Wait, you were ten! What the hell were you doing in the DC ruins!"

"This was before the super mutants completely infested the place. There were some, but they were easy to evade. Anywhoo... I went to Rivet Ciy, and started watching the mechanics fix stuff on the ship. So, every night, I crept up to the decks and tried my hand at fixing one of the planes. It took me a few years, but with replacement parts from other birds I managed to get one into semi-working order. She started up, but I had absolutely had no idea how to fly. I did find a book on it up in Rivet City's... uh... "Control Room". I pretty much memorized in the year before I took off. All the while trying to fix up the plane, collect fuel, etc...

"Well, I was now sixteen. I was stupid, I thought I was ready. So I got in, fired her up, and tried to take off. Of course I hadn't told the residents what I was going to do, as they would have stopped me, but... When I started her, she started rolling backwards toward the bow of the ship. Which was a ragged mess, so if I hit it I would be smashed to pieces. I remembered what the book said, found the right knob and shoved it. The engines roared so loud it drowned out the initial screaming of residents. Security burst out the door, and were completely surprised by what they saw. Me, starting to take off in a 200-year old jet. Abraham Washington, some old dude obsessed with American History, came out to see what was going on. He saw me, looked all excited and starting yelling something. By this time my plane had stopped rolling, the back wheels touching the edge. She finally started rolling forward, faster and faster until... Take-off! Well, sorta, the plane dropped towards the ground as I struggled to control it. A split second later, and she was climbing! I had done it! I flew off to the north, where I had seen this place years ago.

"After about an hour of searching, I found it. Now came the hard part; landing. I remembered from the book about landing gear, but also remember I didn't put them up. Slow down, I remembered that. Something else about a landing flare and flaps. From a diagram I had seen, I found the flap switch. I lowered them. One of them. The other didn't drop." I was moving my arms and body like I had done in the plane those years ago. "The plane jerked to right, slowing down but not quite as I had wanted. I popped the bubble cockpit, just in case. I was fighting the yoke to remain in control. I worked her down, and tried to imitate the flare I saw in the book. Well this just didn't agree with the broken flaps. It jerked again, and slid sideways into the pavement, and continued to scrape along the ground. I jumped out of the cockpit when I saw flames moving up the fuselage. Running down the nose, I jumped as far as I could. I landed in some burnt shrubbery and sand. Of course, going 60 miles an hour into sand isn't soft. I was knocked out cold.

"When I came to, the only remainder of the plane was smoldering wreckage strewn over half the runway. I gave myself a stimpack in the side, just in case there was any internal damage, and found myself stiffly limping towards the hangar. It was the only thing standing, so it was the best shelter around. And I almost fainted at what I saw."

Noticing I had paused, the pilot asked, "Uh... Can we LAND now?" We had been hovering over the runway for a good ten minutes. I spill out my life story for this punk and he doesn't even pay attention. I may not have a "way with words", the only person I've talked to most of my life is myself, but they say a picture is worth a thousand of them. And I'm gonna show him something that pretty much explains why I haven't been constantly masturbating the past three years.

"Yes we can land. And you weren't paying attention."

"No shit it was boring as fuck."

I smacked he back of his head with my hand.

"What the fuck was that for?"

"Don't swear. It makes you look like a fuckin' moron."

"You're swearing."

"Never said it made ME look like moron." He glared. "What's your name anyway?"

"Gary. Just, Gary. Never had a last name. Well, as far as I know. The Enclave got me when I was a kid and forced me to fly for them. They said if I didn't they'd kill me."

I didn't speak. I just looked at him, knowing the Enclave had done this with quite a few people. I made myself a promise to try and find out his real name if I ever had the oppurtunity. I knew I would never, but something about promising it silently made me feel better about killing his comrades and kidnapping his sorry ass.

He landed the Vertibird, and we got out. He followed me to the Hanger, where I threw open the door for him. He gasped. Inside was a vintage plane from the early days of aviation. Camo green on top, sky-blue with white splotches on the bottom, it had two wings, swiveling dual-machine gun in the second seat, dual mounted ones behind the propellor. "I went in here for shelter and recover from the crash. When I first saw her, she was made of only wood and cloth. I scavanged parts from all over this field to put her together like this. I used the thinnest aluminum I could find, mostly from old planes. Thank god it doesn't rust. Used a little plating under the seat, don't want my ass shot full of holes when I'm over the capital wasteland. Any maneuever you name, she can do. I've also attached some homemade rockets to the wings. Haven't tested those yet. It took me three years, but I finally finished her AND fixed the fuel station. That was a bitch..."

"Fuel station?"

"Yes, a fuel station. Big underground tank full of avgas. Another thanks to God that before the war the people here filled it up. Enough to fly this thing constantly for a hundred years. A bonus, somebody left fuel trucks all over. And a bigger bonus, this bitch's engine had been converted to run on it! Now, may I get back to my "boring as fuck" story?"

"Sure why not? I ain't got anything else to listen to."

"Thank you. The plane here, she flew beautifully. Well, what I qualify as beautiful. No crashing, climbs good, flies smooth. Over time I gathered supplies, slapped a couple machine guns on the wings. I still haven't tested her in combat, I've been waiting for the right time. Ammo for those babies isn't exactly laying around. I call her... Sparky. She also has an extra seat in the back, and I've been needing a partner. If you decide to stay here, and I hope you do, I've thought it over... I want you to be the one helping me."

"Why?"

"Well, for one, you know where my hideout is. If anyone else finds it, word will get back to the Enclave, and I will have no home and all I've worked for would be destroyed. And I need another pilot. I installed a second yoke in the back seat. If I get hit, I want someone to carry on my work in restoring the grand art of aviation back to the world. And I don't want this thing getting into the wrong hands." I didn't tell him that if he refused, I'd kill him the second my training was over.

"Maybe... I don't know... I'll think about it." I could tell he sensed something very bad would happen if he refused. I'll let him decide after a flight.

"Alright, see that closet?"

"Yeah?"

"That's your new home. There's a mattress, a pillow, and some blankets. Now get to bed, I want to start early in the morning when winds are the calmest." He didn't protest, but skulked over to it and got in. I swiftly walked up, then closed the door and locked him inside. That got a response.

"What the hell are you doing? I can't see anything!"

"Gotta make sure you don't run off. If you gotta tinkle or make a stinky, there's a bucket in there. You can stumble around a bit to find it or just spray 'n' pray. Now lights out."


	2. Everybody Needs a Wingman

"Wake up, it's time to start training." I banged on the closet door with my fist. "Rise and shine cupcake!" I heard groaning coming from inside, along with some swearing. "You're a foul-mouthed little bastard ain't ya? Shut up and get the fuck out here, the door's unlocked."

"Fine. I'm coming out. Can I take a shower?"

"There's a sink in the restroom. Now get out here."

Gary opened the door and walked out. He looked like hell, hair all screwed up, like he hadn't gotten an hour of sleep. "Can I have breakfast and some coffee?"

"Sure. Here's some coffee. And here's some hardtack. Dunk it in the coffee for a minute so you don't break your teeth."

Watching him struggle with the hardtack was entertaining. After he was done, I approached him. "Time to start. You know your end of the bargain."

An hour later, after showing me how to make sure the Vertibird was airworthy, and gassing her up, we took to the skies. For the next couple weeks he taught me how to fly, and gradually I became better and better. He started me on the more advanced stuff after that, and I focused on perfecting it for a complete month. With practice I quickly became proficient, and mastered crosswind conditions, uneven landings, weapon systems, stuff like that. In the whole time we rarely talked of anything besides the training. Every time I tried to initiate a conversation, it ended with him grunting at me to focus. The final day, as I flew back towards the hanger, I brought up the question I had asked him more than two months ago.

"So, Gary, have you made up your mind? Are you gonna stay here with me, or do you want to go back to the Wasteland?"

"It doesn't matter."

"That isn't an option."

"I know. But every Vertibird has tracking chips on it. I've been waiting every day for the Enclave to come and rescue me."

I stared, gawking. This little bastard had been waiting for the Enclave to come in here and kill me this entire time. "Then why the hell did you teach me to fly?"

"Because it wouldn't have mattered. They'd just shoot you out of the sky," he said gloomily. "And me too, for showing you."

"So either death by me than death by the Enclave?"

"Yep. You'd be merciful; I could tell that. It's why I'm telling you now. The Enclave would just shoot you in the gut and laugh while you bled out. Off to the south, I heard a faint whooshing of Vertibird blades. So did he. "Ah, here come the cavalry! A toast! May they all choke on my skinny cock!" Gary pantomimed holding up a wine glass.

"Don't get excited. They're still a far ways off, the valleys off that way act like a megaphone. I say we have around ten minutes," I told him. My hand was itching towards my pistol, wanting to blow a giant hole in this fucker's head for putting me on this entire time. I got myself under control, and said to him: "How about not dying today? Is that an option?"

"What are you talking about? They're too strong, they'll just hunt us down. Let's get drunk off our asses!"

"No time. Plus I'm outta booze. Saddle up, Gary. We're not going down without a fight."

"We can't fight them, I've already told you, they're too strong."

"Ah, but WE have a secret weapon. I believe my end of the deal stated I had to give you a ride in the plane." I smiled.

He looked up at me, a similar grin appearing on his face. "Well if you put it that way, why not? Better than just sitting here. I still say we get drunk afterwords."

"No booze, remember? We're running out of time. Come on!" We ran to the hangar, each grabbing one of the two sliding doors. Opening them, we ran to my life's work. I leaped in the front seat, and he jumped in behind me. I guessed around five minutes until the Enclave arrived. Cranking the ignition, the prop sputtered to life. Taxiing out to the runway, I lined up with the center line. Shoving the throttle, we started gaining speed. The tailwheel lifted off the ground. I gave it a couple seconds, then pulled back on the stick. We lifted completely into the air, and I yelled back to Gary, "How're you likin' the open cockpit?"

"It's great! This is the best feeling of my life!"

"Good!" I shouted, "Look into that compartment facing my back! There's a little present!" As I reached into my own storage area and put on the old barnstormer's goggles, leather helmet, and white silk scarf, I glanced back and saw he had put on his. Laughing, I yelled back to him to put on the mouthpiece I had installed. Once he had, I asked him, "How're you hearing me?"

"Just fine! Is this so we don't have to yell?"

"Yep. Easier on the voicebox. Let's get some altitude, see if we can hide in those clouds until we can ambush them."

"I thought we'd want more speed."

"Speed comes later. Speed is life, altitude is life insurance. It'll give us a better view, and I'll bet they won't be looking up." I leveled out the plane, gained some speed, and pulled back on the stuck again so that we did a half-loop up. At the top, I rolled level again. "See if you can spot them! I wanna hit them fast as possible the first run."

"Alright." We both scanned the ground for the Enclave vertibirds. "There! Two 'o' clock!" He pointed over my shoulder. I saw them as well. A formation of five. They weren't moving particularly fast, probably hoping to sneak up on my home. Or give us time to run and shoot us while we did. One thing was for sure. They sure as hell weren't expecting us to come down on them from above.

"Okay! Here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna dive behind them, and take out the one farthest back on the right, and the one ahead of it if I can. We'll be moving a LOT faster than they are. So, when we pass them, you're to use that swivel mount and rake the survivors' broadsides with fire. Got it?"

"Sounds like a plan! What if we don't get them all?"

"We'll just hit them again, I doubt they can keep up with us. You ready?"

"Hell yes!"

"Alright then, let's give these bastards a run for their money!" We both screamed a battle cry into the headset. When we passed overhead the formation, I rolled upside down. Wait for it, wait for it... There it is. I yanked back the stick, and we dove down directly behind them, pulling out even and on their tail. I lined up the sights, and fired with everything I had.


	3. Dogfight

Lining up the sights, I fired with everything I had. The Vertibird, last in line in the V formation on the right, burst into flames and plummeted to the earth. I touched the left rudder pedal, swinging the nose around to the next Vertibird. Firing again, this one lost a rotor and spiraled down. "It's your show now Gary! Remember to lead and give 'em hell!"

I turned to the right, then back in a course parallel to the Vertibirds. Almost abeam them, I heard Gary open up. I looked over, and saw the final three Vertibirds sparking as bullets ripped into them. One must've had it's pilot killed, since it started doing all sorts of crazy things before going into a steep dive. Another sustained rotor damage, but stayed in the air while vearing to the left and right as the pilot struggled to keep it flying. The final one, the leader, had its cargo bay shredded but didn't take any serious damage. "Gary! I'm gonna circle 'round, hit 'em again!"

"Got it!"

I ripped the stick left, flying in front of the shattered formation. A few seconds after Gary opened up, I heard the distinctive sound of a gun jamming. As I turned around, with Gary cursing trying to un-jam the thing, I noticed the lead VB whirring up a minigun mounted on its nose. "Hang on! This is gonna get rough!" I punched the throttle and yanked back the yoke. The plane jerked upward, along with some more cursing coming through my earpiece. 5mm rounds tore through the air behind us. Going past vertical and losing a lot of airspeed, I jumped on the left rudder pedal, yanking the nose to the left while reducing the throttle, until we had done a 180 and were facing straight down, even as we were still sliding sideways from the rudder. It felt as if we were floating, and I looked at the VB. It had been turning, trying to follow us with it's nose. The chaingun started spinning. Screaming "Shit!", I punched the throttle again.

I glanced back as we rocketed downward. 5mm tracers were grazing my tail. I urged the plane to move faster, trying to make her go that extra last bit, watching as the stream of bullets fell further and further behind us. When I looked forward again, I realized the ground was becoming increasingly close. I grabbed the stick tightly, took a breath and pulled the yoke into my stomach. My poor plane struggled to pull out. The g-forces were more than I had ever experienced. Headed straight for a patch of trees. Crap. "This is gonna be a close one!" Slowly becoming level, getting closer and closer to the ground, then nose raising, little by little... Felt a small shake, then shot up into the wild sky once more. We had completely dove under the lead VB, and had pulled up under the damaged one. "You got that gun fixed yet?"

"Not yet, thanks to your flying."

"We're still alive, ain't we?" No response. I positioned the plane so my sights lined up with the belly of the smoking VB. With a pull of the trigger it exploded. Flying into the cloud of smoke, I heard Gary start shouting incoherently. Bursting through the other side, I headed the opposite way from my home, hoping the VB would follow. It did. My direction ensured we'd be out of range of his guns.

"Ok Gary, this guy ain't goin' down without a fight. Check the tail compartment, there's an old missile launcher in there. I did a little integration of a sentry targeting computer and turret into that missile; it's heat-seeking."

"You serious?" He yanked it out of the compartment. "Guess you are."

"Just aim at him, and when you hear the beep, for God's sake pull the fuckin' trigger!"

"I know how to shoot, dammit!"

I started flying in a large circle around the Vertibird (out of range of his guns), so Gary could have a broadside shot. After a couple seconds, I heard a loud: BEEP! A plume of smoke dashed out from the side of our plane. I tracked the plume all the way to its target. The pilot tried a last-ditch effort of evasion, pulling up, but the engines must have sustained some damage after all, because they just couldn't take it. Instead he found himself slowing down, barely gaining any altitude. The missile impacted, wreckage, smoke, and fire lit up the sky.

"You got him Gary! Ya got him!" Laughing, I turned around to high-five him.

"That was INSANE! They'd never let me do anything like THAT in the Enclave!" He returned the high-five, smiling ear-to-ear. Then he leaned halfway out of the plane, ripped his mask off, and started shouting at the wreckage, "THAT WAS FOR FUCKING ME OVER! EVERY! FUCKING! DAY! THAT WAS FOR MAKING ME DO THE SHIT JOBS! THAT WAS FOR TAKING AWAY MY NAME! MY IDENTITY! MY LIFE!" He put his mask back on, and turned to me. "I have an answer. I'm sticking with you."

"Good answer. I need a wingman. Plus I need someone to help work on this plane a little bit. I found some old solar panels in the ruins. I want to attach them on top of the wings, as well as a battery in the tail. Might lose some storage space, but if we ever take a hit to the fuel tanks I'll be glad to have some extra power." I headed for home, lining up with the runway for a straight-in landing.

"Sure thing. Umm... This might sound kinda funny, but... What's your name?" Gary looked sheepish, unsure if I had told him earlier and he just wasn't listening. But I hadn't. I hadn't told him my name. In Rivet City the adults had called me "Sonny". But I grew to adulthood away from them, and a man named "Sonny" is weird. Or at least I thought so, as I descended towards the runway.

"My name? The Rivet City people called me 'Sonny'. But it's been years since I've heard that, and to be frank I got sick of it. You may call me... The Man in the Sky," I replied, trying to give it a dramatic tone.

"That's about the stupidest thing I've ever heard." At least he was blunt about it. "How about an acronym... Mits? Mit?"

"I'm not gonna go walking around the Wasteland being called 'Mits'." Almost on the ground, as I started the rounded I was trying to find a way to stop the discussion with Gary.

"Then how about 'Picky Bastard?'"

"Very funny. How 'bout we get back and de-bug the Vertibird?" I asked, lightly touching down and coasting over to the hangar.

"Fine. And you know I won that argument. From now on I'm calling you Mits."

"Like hell you are. Just call me 'Sonny'."

"Naw, I think I'm gonna call you Mits."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're not. And you're an asshole, you know that?" I sighed, as I taxied back into the hangar.

"Yes, I do. Did you know you're a picky bastard?" He grinned as I shut off the engine.

"Oh shut up. Now, where are those tracking chips?" We got out, took off our gear, and walked over to where we had parked the Vertibird earlier.

"There's one in the cockpit, one on each rotor, and one in the tail. I'll show you." We spent the next hour going into the Vertibird's insides retrieving the chips. "We should destroy them all at the same time, hopefully they haven't been monitering to closely and will think we were destroyed as well," he hoped.

"Aren't they gonna come looking for survivors or something from the ones we downed?" I asked, feeling a little nervous, wondering if I'd have to leave my home for good.

"Maybe, but I doubt it. The Enclave tends to view us, err, *their* troops as expendable. If they do come looking, as long as these chips are destroyed they shouldn't come here. Might want to lay low for a few days, just in case." He took all four chips in his hand, threw them on the ground and crushed them. "Just to be safe," he added, "Let's burn them." Gary went over to the fuel station's pump, emptied some fuel into a cup and dumped it on the destroyed chips. He took a match and set them ablaze in a miniature inferno.

"Now, I said I didn't have any, but... I think we deserve a little something. I got some whiskey back in a locker, if you'll join me?"

"In a victory celebration? Why, I do think I will."

"Alrighty then, follow me."

"You know what Mits? You're okay for a picky bastard."

"And you're not bad for an annoying asshole. Now enough talk; let's get drunk!"


	4. Cyclops

I opened my eyes, head pounding. What a night. Must've drunk until I blacked out. Damn, what time was it?

Looking around, I glanced at the clock. It was a few seconds before the hands came into focus. One 'o' clock in the afternoon. The hands ticked away, like someone sticking grenades into your ears and then letting them off. Sitting up, I fought the urge to tumble onto the floor and throw up everything I had eaten the day before. Dizzy, I stood up and promptly slipped in a pile of something wet.

After waiting another ten minutes for my nausea to subside, I got up and looked at what I had slipped in. Vomit. Lovely. I staggered over to the fridge, and got out a tray of stimpacks and Punga fruit. Sticking one needle into the fruit, I injected half its contents, then drew the plunger back out, making a half-stimpack, half-Punga juice inside the syringe. Sticking it into my leg, I pumped the concoction into my bloodstream. The sweet, sweet juice ran through my body, and I felt the effects of a major hangover starting to wear off.

Hearing Gary puke, I started making another batch of hangover miracle-cure. "Did we have a good night?" he asked, "I can't remember anything."

"Hang on, I'm gonna give you a shot of this stuff. Cures a hangover in ten minutes or less," I replied, walking over to him and jabbed him in the leg.

"Ow! What the hell was that?"

"A stimpack mixed with Punga fruit juice, gotta get it fresh from the fruit though. I picked up a stock of Punga when I was scavving in lower DC."

"Heh, I am feeling a bit better. So, what are we doing today?"

"I've given it some thought. We're taking the Vertibird down to the Brotherhood of Steel Citadel, where I was thinking you could train them how to-"

"Are you fucking crazy? They'll shoot us outta the sky!"

"Let me finish. If we painted new symbols or something on the side, they'd understand. You and the bird would stay there, while I go to Megaton to take care of some business. You'll be safer there than anywhere."

"I still think they'd shoot us outta the sky. What do you have to do in Megaton?"

"Just some unfinished business I need to take care of. Anyways, let's get going, I want to get there by sunset."

An hour later, after painting a BoS symbol on the Vertibird, we took off. I flew until we had gotten into the Capital Wasteland. After that, I let Gary take the controls. We flew over Old Olney, Minefield, and the Scrapyard. I pointed out them and other landmarks to Gary, who noted them down on a chart for reference. "Hang on a second Gary, take a detour over the eastern DC ruins. Might be able to get a couple of Super Mutants with the laser on this thing."

"Alright." We moved to a south-eastern course, and started flying slowly over the DC ruins. My childhood started coming back to me. Raised in the protective shieldof my two parents, living in a place now inhabited by someone named "Dukov". Hunting Mirelurk in the river, me hiding whenever Raiders came by, my father hiding next to me with his .44 Magnum, just in case they came too close... And the deaths of my parents at the hands of a gigantic Super Mutant, dying to protect me.

"Andre! Quick! Listen to me, and listen to me good. Run. Run as fast as you can, as far as you can until you're out of the DC ruins. Now go. GO!" My father turned away from me, and looked at what was walking down the river toward out home. "Are you still here? I said RUN!"

I ran up into the ruins of a nearby building. I glanced back, and my father was watching me, making sure I was still running. I went even faster, climbing over the top and sliding down the back. But something made me turn back, and I climbed to the side of the building, and hid like my father taught me to do from the raiders.

Dad was holding his .44 at arms length, looking squarely down the sights at something that shook the ground with every step. It got closer, and I recognized it as one of those "Super Mutants" we had heard traders talk about. Except it was huge, almost as big as our house. My father stood there, completely in the open, with nothing but his .44 Magnum to protect himself and my mother. The beast roared when it saw my dad, and my dad answered with a .44 Magnum round. It hit the monster in its eye, and blood spurted down its face.

My father fired again, hitting it in the forehead. The Behemoth was unfazed, and picked up a car. It threw it at my father, missing, and hit our home. I heard the screams of my mother, shortly before the car exploded into a mushroom cloud and vaporized her.

Screaming with sorrow and rage, my father charged the thing firing off rounds as he went. They had no effect, and he just kept running. Taking a machete from his belt, he ran up rubble next to the roaring monster. It bent down and ripped a section of steel off a nearby building, and swung it at my father. Dad ducked it, and jumped off the building's side. Hitting the beast in the chest, he started slashing it while holding onto its armor. It grabbed him and threw him through the wall of our home.

And that was the last time I saw my father. I was so frightened, I did what he said. I ran. And ran and ran and ran and ran. I ran until I stumbled upon a big white building, that had a man standing in old-fashioned clothes in the center. It was there I lived for two years, scavving and exploring the DC ruins until a scav team from Rivet City found and took me to live with them. I never told any of them why I was orphaned. They might suspect I would do something stupid if a one-eyed Behemoth wandered by. But I vowed that day, when my parents died, to never hunt him down. Instead I would let him wander to me, as if he was coming back to finish the job. And kill that one-eyed son-of-a-bitch when he did.

I haven't seen a Behemoth since. I gave up on seeing one again, as the thing could easily have left the Wasteland altogether. So I bided my time, working on my plane and scavving the DC ruins for parts and supplies. But now, now I had a new quest. I was going to find Gary's true identity if it killed me.

"Hey Mits, this is looking awfully familier..." We were nearing GNR.

"I know, if they're under attack I'm hoping we can lend a hand."

"The last time I was here the Brotherhood tried to shoot me out of the sky."

"You shot at them. I doubt they'll be happy about us being there, but they should lighten up if we help them out."

"Okay, but the second they shoot at us I'm bugging out."

As we got close, I could easily see that the Brotherhood of Steel was in real trouble. A Super Mutant force numbering close to a hundred were sneaking in, and the few Brotherhood soldiersmhad no idea. "Gary, I'm taking controls. My control."

"Your control."

"My control. I'm going to hit these guys as hard as we can, if we can we'll alert the Brotherhood. That'll be your job, get that door open and the second those boys get into earshot you start yelling. Also, tune this radio to GNR, see what we can pick up."

"Gotcha."

I got the Vertibird's weapons warmed up, and lined up so I could rake the entire Super Mutant column with fire. I moved in, and opened up. The laser fire cut through multiple Mutants, their blood and limbs flying over the ground. The Masters with missile launchers fired while I tried to dodge them. I primed a mini-nuke for a bombing run, circled around and hit them again. It landed right in the middle of the column, blowing apart numerous mutants and sending survivors tumbling through the air. The forward part of the mutant force started running towards GNR, while I mopped up the last bit of Mutant forces to the rear. Didn't want those bastards going for help. I wheeled the thing around, and sped towards the mutants just as they started their attack on GNR. We got a convienent message through the radio. "Kiddies, there's a whole bunch of Mutants outside, and I don't know how long the Brotherhood can keep them away. We've been hearing fighting for a couple minutes, we thought an Enclave Vertibird stopped by to kill some far-off muties. Looks like they were knocked out, and all I can hear are the Mutants yelling and shooting. There's a lot of those Uglies out there, and this may be our last transmission kiddies, so I have to say good-bye. And remember children, to keep fighting, the Good Fight."

"Not your last broadcast if I can help it," I said to myself. I flew in alongside GNR and raked Mutants with laser fire, tearing them to shreds. There was still several dozen milling about their dead comrades, trying to overrun the defenders. The BoS was holding, but just barely. Their cover was getting blown away, while others were getting dropped my Mutie fire. I heard Gary trying to shout over the din of battle, trying to tell them we were friends.

I turned around and gave it a another pass, taking out the Muties who were forming at the back for a big push. The Gatling Laser ripped through them, blowing heads off and shredding torsos. Detonated a few grenades too, as explosions ripped through their ranks. Only two-dozen left now, and with the BoS starting to gain some defensive momentum those 20 to 30 Super Mutants left wouldn't last long. As I circled around for a final pass, a BoS soldier fired a missile at me. "Ah shit." I dropped closer to the ground, flying almost between buildings, and avoided the danger. "Keep yelling Gary! We're both gonna die if you don't get the message across!"

I did a 180, and flew back between the buildings. When I got close enough, I mashed my thumb on the fire button and lit up those Mutie asses. I started hovering, hoping the BoS would see the symbols we painted or Gary would get through to them. The last of the Muties tried running away, and I turned him into swiss cheese. I turned so Gary could have a straight shot at yelling to them, and I heard: "HEY YOU! DON'T SHOOT! WE ARE FRIENDS! Alright Mits, put 'er down! They're giving us a thumbs up!"

I nodded, and lowered the throttle until we had touched down in the small clearing. Shutting off the engine, I followed Gary out the hatch. I was met with an assault rifle shoved in my face. "You! Civilian! What are you doing here?"

"Well, you guys seemed to need a bit of help. I stole this thing more than a month ago, after getting some practice in I decided maybe you guys could use it. We were on our way to the Citadel to land there."

"That wouldn't be a good idea, they just got their hands on a lot of new missile launchers. If they don't know you're coming they'll blast you out of the sky. I'll see if I can contact them and let them know you're coming." The soldier turned and started talking through his portable radio. I heard Elder Lyons give an okay, but they'd have every gun trained on us if we tried anything. "Okay Civvie, you got the okay, but don't try anything funny or you'll be blasted out of the air. Got it?"

"Got it." I looked around for Gary, and was told he had been escorted upstairs to Three-Dog to tell him what happened. I went inside and walked up to find him, being given thanks by Brotherhood as I went.

"...How many?"

"Around a hundred."

"Really? That'll make for one hell of a broadcast. Now, what was that hangover cure again?"

"Take a stimpack, inject half of it into a Punga fruit, then draw t out again so you have a half-stimpack, half-Punga juice mixture in the needle and inject it into your leg."

"Ha ha ha genuis! How did you come up with it?"

I walked in. "I was the one who came up with it, thank you very much."

"Hey there, you must be The Man in the Sky."

"Sounds better when you say it. Gary here been telling you what's been going on?"

"Yeah, sounds like quite the little adventure you've been having. Guess the Lone Wanderer isn't the only Hero of the Wastes. Where ya headed now kid?"

"The Citadel, gonna drop off the Vertibird and Gary there, then head to Megaton."

"Well then, you better get going. It's gonna get dark real soon, and you don't want the Brotherhood mistaking you for an asshole."

"No we don't. Come one Gary; we gotta get moving."

"Alright. See ya Three Dog!"

"See ya children. You keep your ears on the radio, there may be a 'Special Mentions' section dedicated to you do-gooders."

"Got it," I replied. We left the station and climbed back in the Vertibird. "You fly Gary, I need a rest."

"Alright Mits." It was another ten minutes before we reached the Citadel. We hovered in the center, and gently touched down in the middle of the yard. Elder Lyons was there to greet us.

"So, you're the ones my Knight told me about. We certainly needed the help, even if some of my men don't want to admit it. And we most certainly relish the oppurtunity to have an Enclave Vertibird."

"Well Elder, you're not only going to have it. Gary here's gonna teach whoever wants to to fly it."

"Is that so? Well, we'll be sure to make him an honorary member of the Brotherhood. But, what will you do in the meantime?"

"I'm heading to Megaton in the morning, that is if I can sleep here tonight?" I inquired, hoping to have a hot meal included.

Lyon's eyes glinted. "I had a suspicion you'd ask that. Of course you can. I assume you want a hot meal too?"

"Yes sir."

"You can eat with us."

"Thank you sir, your hospitality is unmatched."

"It is I who should be thanking you. And make no mention of it."

Gary had been standing there looking bored while me and Elder Lyons discussed things of my past, and the going-ons of DC. After around ten minutes of us talking, he chimed in. "Hey, can we get something to eat now? I'm starving."

"Why not, it is getting late after all," Elder Lyons replied. We headed down to the Brotherhood's tables, and enjoyed some very well cooked Mirelurk meat, bread, and a few veggies they had managed to grow. After that, Gary and I went down to their barracks and each took a seperate cot.

"I'll be back in a week after I leave tomorrow, if everything works out. Night Gary."

"Night Mits."

"Don't call me Mits." 


	5. Anatomy

I awoke very early the next morning, to prepare for my trip to Megaton. Getting out of bed, I walked over to the footlocker and retrieved my belongings. One .32 caliber hunting rifle, one 10mm submachine gun, one .44 magnum, just in case I got to see a super-mutant up close and personal. One set of customized leather armor, to which I had attached some titanium plating underneath the leather on the chest, stomach, legs, arms, and back. As well as one special extra-padded piece over my crotch. I found the hardened leather slowed the bullets some, and the titanium blocked them completely. The plates were small enough to not hinder movement but big enough to stop most small-arms fire, as I made damn sure the plates were no more than a centimeter or so apart.

Strapping on my armor, loading my 10mm SMG to my left side, my .44 on my right, and my .32 rifle across my back, I left a note to Gary explaining why I had left so early, telling him so I could miss the midday heat. But I really wanted to get there just as the caravans did, so I could obtain anything I needed before the town's vultures cleaned them out. Also so I could ask them if they knew where the Enclave liked kidnapping people from, as it seemed a decent place to start looking for answers about Gary's unknown past.

I bid my farewell to the Citadel's guards and walked outside. Time to walk through the city's crumbling architecture. Except I would do a little "detour" through wrecked and destroyed buildings, and climb over the rubble that blocked streets. Super mutants were too stupid and clumsy to do it, and raiders used the easiest way to travel -metroes- to get through the city. As far as I knew, I (apart from a couple scavangers) was the only one who used "free-running", as one scav called it, to navigate the ruins. I guessed most thought it too dangerous or risky. But hey- it had kept me alive for years, and let me avoid most nasty encounters others would have to fight through.

Scrambling over the rubble, I looked at my watch. I had been going strong for a few hours now, and was nearing the Super-Duper Mart. I had a close call when a trio of Super Mutants heard my footsteps, but I got out of sight quickly enough that they didn't even bother investigating. Probably assumed a mole-rat or something was scampering around. As high-up pathways dwindled down, I had started making my way back to ground level when I heard a scream coming from the mart's parking lot. Crap, I wanted to avoid the mart- it was a raider hotspot. I immidiately hit the dirt and unlsung my hunting rifle. Looking through the sights, I realized I couldn't see a damn thing. The mart was blocking most of my view. I rose up to a crouch, and started moving as fast as I could without making noise to a better, closer position. I found a nice jumble of rocks sticking up out of the ground, about 50 feet from the pavement. I went prone next to them, and sighted in on what was happening.

A group of four raiders was teasing a sickly-looking man and woman with a hellish-looking weapon, with a sword that appeared to have a chainsaw blade running around the outside. The lead raider, a man about six foot five, rather fat, was slashing the ground next to the tied-up couple and sticking the sword near their faces, and when they screamed he laughed and did it again. His three henchmen, or women I couldn't tell through their armor and masks (they all looked like men though), kept asking when they were going to get to eat and waving forks and knives at the couple. One had a very rusty hunting rifle, another had a 10mm pistol, and the final had only a trench knife.

"Alright you rat bastards," I muttered under my breath, "You want something to eat? Have some lead."

I fired once and blew the rifle-wielding one's head right off his shoulders. Working the bolt, I chambered another round. Then I waited to see what would happen. The three remaining raiders spun about, looking for who was attacking them. Their leader shouted something incoherent, and his lackeys started spreading out. I fired again hitting the one with the pistol in the leg, knocking him down. Chambered another, fired and got him through the heart. Two dead, two effective.

I took a moment to load three rounds back into my rifle. The two left were scanning around for who was their attacker. The one with the knife spotted me, and as he turned to tell his boss I put a bullet through his ear, splattering his brains on the cracked pavement. The boss, the fat fuck with the sword, gave a battle cry and held up his sword next to the couple, and I assumed he was gonna kill them. I fired, and broke his sword in two. He looked at his shattered weapon, and snarled out in my direction. Time to go for a kill.

"Hey you fat fuck! Over here you blind piece of shit!" I stood up and waved my arms. He looked at me with beady little eyes, and ran over to his dead comrade and plucked the trench knife off the ground. "That how you want to do it? Fine." I walked within about twenty feet of the raider. Taking off my weapons, I faced him with only my armor and my bare hands. He laughed, and charged slashing his knife.

I had to time this perfectly. One step back, no two, now a third to regain balance. His right arm came up above his head to start a long slash. I quickly stepped next to his running body, grabbing his raised wrist with my left hand, and his bicep with my right hand. Twisting to my left, I torqued his arm so that his hand holding the knife slit the bastard across his stomach. After the incision came out the side of his body, he started screaming and dropped the knife. I picked it up, went over to the restrained couple and cut their bonds. "Get out of here," I said, "You're not gonna want to see this." They nodded their heads and ran over to a wrecked car to get out of sight.

"Okay you fat fucking rat bastard piece-of-shit," I growled, "You like eating people? Huh? Do ya? How about you eat shit." I walked over to the writhing, screaming raider, and stuck my hand into the cut that ran across the right side of his belly. I felt around for what I was looking for, and grabbed. His eyes opened so wide I thought they were going to pop out of his head, and screamed so loud I almost had to cover my ears. Taking out my hand, his large intestine firmly grasped in my fist and unraveling it from his lower bowels, I brought it up to his face. His screaming was so loud they probably heard him back at the Citadel. He kept turning his face away from the sight of his own entrails. I took my other hand and stopped his head from moving. "Shut the fuck up already." I took my fist of bowels and shoved it down his throat. His bloody, dripping intestines led from the gash in his side, up over his stomach, and down his throat. I stuck a stimpack next to the gash, so he wouldn't bleed to death on me. "Just to be safe," I assured him, "Better eat some more. We don't want you starving, do we?" I untangled more of his intestine from the gash, and shoved the excess even further down into his gullet. The stimpack had started to take effect, and the bleeding slowed to a crawl.

Taking the knife I gave the man what I had seen a Rivet City doctor once do to someone who was choking. He called it a "tracheotomy", so a person could breath through the hole in their neck and not their mouth and nose when they were blocked. Cutting a small hole, I stuck in the stimpack vial I had smashed on the ground, so both ends were open and the hole wouldn't become clogged with blood. "Don't go anywhere on me," I said, while cutting his achilles tendons and dragging him to the front of the Super Duper Mart. "Now, you stay here." I was talking in a tone like I was telling a child to stay in time-out. I took a hook the raiders had attached to the front of the store, and jammed it in between the two bones in the raider's forearm. I tied off rope through the end loop of the hook, and threw the rope over the "S" of the giant store name. It hooked through and came down, and I pulled, hauling the suffering raider off the ground so no predators could get him. I tied the rope to a Nuka-Cola machine so the bastard could stay up there and slowly bleed out, or starve or dehydrate or get eaten by maggots. I really didn't care, as long as he suffered. I gave a chuckle as I witnessed his intestines fill up with vomit and went right back into him. Bastard was getting what he deserved.

I picked my weapons off the ground and walked over to the car where the couple was hiding. "Ok you two, we gotta get to Megaton before fatso attracts the attention of other Raiders or predators." I could still hear a faint gurgling sound from the raider, but put it out of my mind and told the couple not to look back. We walked for another hour or so before Megaton came into sight. I could hear the couple whispering to one another, but I decided it was best not to try and listen in on their conversation and instead posted myself to scanning for hostiles.

"We want to thank you." It was the first thing I head either of them say loud enough to hear. The man (husband I presumed) kept going. "We were so sure they were gonna eat us like they did the scav we were traveling with. They got him yesterday, but butchered him and cooked bits of him right in front of his eyes." His wife started crying. "They had kept us prisoner for three days in the mart there, and when we ate we noticed something funny about the meat... We asked what it was, and they pointed towards the scav's body. We threw up and haven't had anything to eat since then. When that fat man raised his sword I saw my life flash before my eyes. I know it sounds cliche and everything, but I actually did. We... We really want to thank you for saving us. We can't give you anything, but me and my wife usually scav around for parts and things for caravans. They should be at Megaton when we arrive, we'll put in a good word for you and see if we can get you a discount or something."

"Folks, you may have just helped me more than you think. Will you be staying around?"

"No, we have to get back to where we belong. But I think we'll be a little more careful about where we sleep next time."

By this time we were approaching Megaton, and all the caravans were placed out front. They did this every month or every two months, as a safe place to hunker down and rest for a while when they were away from Canterbury Commons. And get rich by selling off all their wares before their return trip to restock.

"Well alright folks, I really do appreciate the extra word in with the traders, it could really help me in my travels. I suppose this is the last time I'll be seeing you, so good-bye and thank you."

"We should be the ones with all the thanks! Goodbye mister, uh?"

"Sonny."

"Well good-bye Sonny, and thanks. Thanks for everything."

"No problem. Be seeing you." At this I walked through the gates of Megaton and past the crowd running out to start buying and selling. So much for some private time to ask the traders questions. So I went to the only place where people might still be: Moriarity's Saloon. I didn't care much for his Irish ass, but Jericho and maybe Billy Creel were in there and they might the ones with a few answers.

After almost getting knocked off the walkways several times by the stampede of people, I pushed open the door to the saloon and immidietely smelt smoke and the smell of booze. I also arrived in time to hear Jericho and Moriarity's argument.

"Keep those smokes away from me booze you washed-up raider," Moriarity bitched, "I don't want the bar going up in flames because you wanted a smoke."

"What are you talking about you Irish prick? There's so much piss in the drinks it could put out a fire."

"Ah, fuck you baldy. If there were other customers in here to hear that I woulda blasted your head off those shoulders before you even had said it."

"I'm sure you would have." Jericho went back to his whiskey and Moriarity yelled for Gob to come down and handle the bar while he went out to buy "supplies". I assumed he meant drugs.

I sat next to Jericho. "Look here you, I don't need another Wasteland asshole trying to become all cuddly and shit with me because I- Oh, it's the flyboy. Who's blood is it on your armor this time?"

"I dunno, some fat fuck over by the Super-Duper Mart. Actually made him eat his own intestines. Far as I know he's still hanging in front of the place, gurgling for help. Look, I need to ask some questions and get some answers."

"If it was anyone else I'd say no. But since you just did the world a favor and killed a couple of assholes, I'll give you a break. What do ya need to know?"

"I want to know where the Enclave kidnaps new recruits. I was hoping in the time you spent out in the wastes you may have come across something."

"Kid that was so fucking long ago... Hmmm, let's see... I do remember an occasional Vertibird flying across the Wasteland over to the northwest. Or northeast. Wait... Shit, that was a long time ago... It was definitely north of the DC ruins. I can tell you that. But that's all I know. Why the hell are you asking me, flyboy? Why don't you ask one of the traders?"

"The mob got there first. And did you just call me 'flyboy'?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"How the hell did you know-"

"Galaxy News Radio. They said somebody named Sonny or... Mits," he smirked, "Saved the place from a horde of mutants in a Vertibird. Last time you were here you said you wanted to steal one o' those things."

"Oh. Well yeah it was me, I had a bit of help though."

"It was good seeing you again kid, nice to know at least someone's surviving out there."

"Good seeing you to Jericho." I turned and faced Nova in the corner. "Got any rooms open?"

"SUre thing honey," she replied. "I remember last time you were here, somehow you talked me down to fifty caps." Jericho choked on his drink. "I still want my other fifty."

"You're gonna have to earn it."

"Mmm, I plan to."

I heard Jericho mutter "Lucky bastard" as me and Nova headed upstairs. Once she closed the room door, the redhead took off her top. "You gonna stand there and watch, cause you know, that's free." I quickly got out of my clothes and she did hers. "Wow" I thought to myself, "She gets hotter everytime I visit." She stood with her back to the bed.

"Come on Sonny," she crooned, "You still gawking? Most guys have finished by now." That was all the incentive I needed to step in front of her, lay her down on the bed, and begin the love-making. Now I wasn't the biggest of guys, from what I've discovered I'm around average, but all that Wasteland trekking seems to have kept my endurance in check because I could go for more than an hour. Me thrusting between her legs, her breasts bouncing forward, backward, forward, backward, as she moved on the bed, her moaning... It was forty minutes before she came the first time, and another thirty before she did it again, and I did as well.

As we got dressed, I went to hand her her caps. "No hun, I haven't had that kinda fun since I was a virgin... Keep your caps, I'll cover it." She winked.

"At least take twenty." I stated, and she frowned.

"Any guy would think he'd gone to heaven by now, but I can tell you're going to press this... Fine." She took the twenty and pocketed it. "I could never say no to free caps."

I walked back downstairs and sat back down next to Jericho. "You were up there for a while, how much she charge you? You must be fuckin' broke."

"Actually... I got a discount."

"Oh yeah? How much did you pay?"

"Twenty."

Jericho spat his drink on the counter, choking. "Damn kid, how d'ya do it?"

"Honestly... I have no fucking idea."

He shook his head and started cleaning up the liquid his mouth had sprayed over the counter. Gob thanked him, and an idea hit me. "Gob... can I ask you a question?"

"Sure smoothskin, what drink do you want?"

"Not a drink... But... Did anyone in Underworld ever mention anything of Enclave activity around twenty or so years ago?"

"The only one who really left Underworld was Quinn, maybe he'd know. All I would have to go on is rumours I heard two decades ago. But here goes anyways, since you seem okay for a smoothskin. I used to work with Greta and Carol in their restaurant, and heard my share of stories. I once overheard this when waiting on a table. Apparently, some guys in flying machines and power armor used to go into some Vault and take out people once in a while. I think it was some scav who said it, but again it was a long time ago, Sonny. I can't remember where they said it was."

"North of DC?"

"Maybe... But I can't remember much else."

"Well thanks anyways Gob. Here's a tip." I dropped twenty caps on the counter. "Don't let Moriarity get that." He nodded and placed them in his pocket. "See you two later, I'm gonna grab a bed in the common house before all the fuckin' traders take the good ones."

I walked out of the bar, and noticed how quiet it was without everyone inside. Even the loony Cromwell had given it a rest. Damn, so I know the Enclave kidnap people from an old Vault-Tec Vault north of DC. But those things are fuckin' impossible to find, usually there far back in a cave, and there are caves everywhere, hell as far as I know the Enclave sealed it and disguised the entrance.

As I stood there outside of the bar, looking out over the town, I realized who had the locations of the Vaults. I had seen it just yesterday. Back in the Citadel, Rothchild had an old Vault-Tec computer. Maybe it showed the locations? Well after spending the first half of my day traveling and killing, and now the second half talking and fucking, I think I deserved day off for my trouble. Walking over to the common house, I took a bed on the top floor and unloaded my belongings into a footlocker and locked it with a combination. Let's see a thief pick that. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought over the path I'd take back to the Citadel. And I thought about how much easier it would be if I could radio Gary to come and pick me up. I decided to ask Rothchild about making a communicator to install in the Vertibird just for that. Like the one they had at the Washington Monument outpost, one of those... Ham radios, I think. I groaned on the thought, rolled over, and fell asleep on a mattress harder than the steel it sat on.

After being woken up a number of times by drunks bumping into things inside the Common House, or fighting, or puking all over the floor. Somehow I managed to get a full night's sleep, and retrieved my belongings when things got too loud to continue sleeping. I strapped on my armor and weapons, getting a few looks from the people with hangovers when I fumbled with my helmet and it made a rather loud bang as it hit the ground.

I walked outside, up the steps to Megaton's gates, and heard a scream. "Shit," I muttered. I got the doors open and peered out. Couldn't see a damn thing, everyone running and trying to get in was kicking up too much dust. Lucas Simms ran up next to me.

"What the hell's the matter?"

"I'm not sure. Get Jericho and anyone else who knows how to shoot, just in case. Also get Moira to hook up a ham radio to a fission battery and bring it to me here."

"Why? What's goin' on?" he asked, eyes darting around as I opened the doors just enough to let the fleeing people and traders inside.

"I don't know. If we can get the radio working on the right frequency, we just may be able to contact the Brotherhood of Steel if we can't handle things. You! Trader! What the hell's going on?"

A scruffy-looking man stopped and told me and Simms what they were running from. "It's the fucking raiders man, they have a fuckin' army! They shot into the crowd, people were hit and kill-" He was cut off by Stockholm letting off a clip of rounds at the "army".

"Gah! Fuck!" Stockhom came clambering down the side of his perch next to us. "Get the fuck down!" We heard a screaming, whooshing sound and Stockholm's walkway bloomed into an explosion. "They got fuckin' rocket launchers!" He was shouting at us, even though we were about four feet away. I checked back outside, saw only dust, and shut the door. Stockholm took his little device he usually had up there and locked down Megaton's front gate.

"Stockholm, what did you see?" Simms asked.

"They came out of nowhere, I didn't even see them arrive. There were so many, there's no possible way we can hold Megaton."

"You hear that?" Simms said. Stockholm and I shook our heads. "Exactly. If they wanted to kill us they would have done it already. At least it gives us time to prepare. Go tell Moira to get this young man a working ham radio. Then go tell Jericho, Moira's merc, Billy, Hoff, and anyone else who's had some experience. I'll give out weapons later."

"Got it Sheriff." Stockholm ran off into town.

"Well, how about a look at this 'army', Sonny?"

"I'd love it, Sheriff. Maybe give me a bit of target practice."

"No, I don't want you shooting until they shoot first. We still don't know exactly what they want. Maybe it's only supplies..." I shot him a look, and he nodded. "I know. They're raiders, that's not all they're gonna want. We could at least buy some time."

We climbed back up to the perch's shattered frame. As we came into view, we saw some of the dust had settled and there was a massive force splayed out in the Wastes. "Oh shit..." I gasped, "There must be two hundred of them."

Just then we heard a voice from down below. "You there! You're gonna give us all what we want, or we'll come in and take it."

I opened my mouth, but Simms shook his head. He replied instead. "Oh yeah? And just what might that be?"

"Your women, your weapons, your ammo, and you booze!" Was the answer. We had a hard time picking out who yelled it, but eventually we found the figure. Bear of a man, must've been seven feet tall and three feet wide at the shoulder. Not sure how we missed him. "Or else we break in, take what we want, then eat whoever's still alive!" He paused, then added, "While they're still alive!" He gave a hearty laugh, and much of his forces laughed with him.

"Why do you want all that?" I shouted out.

"Because we want it. Does everything have to have an explaination? We like fuckin'," a cheer from the crowd, "Eatin'," another cheer, "And gettin' drunk until we can't no longer stand up. We're tryin' to be civil about this, but you're makin' it so damn hard."

Simms and I exchanged looks before he shouted back, "How long do we have?"

"Well, since you're being so courteous, we'll give you a deal. Only give us half your women, and we'll give you three days to decide who comes." The raider army groaned. "Now now, it's only fair to them. I know being fair isn't in our nature, but I think we can make an exception if they're not gonna fight."

I couldn't stop myself. "Who says we weren't gonna fight?" Simms growled at me.

The giant raider's eyes narrowed. "Two days. An' feel lucky you're even gettin' that. Oh, and don't even think of tryin; ta escape. We split our forces, see, so half is at the front here and the other half surrounded the place. We're just gonna make camp here while we wait." He turned to his forces, made a hand gesture, and they all started laying down bedding and pitch tents.

"Why the hell did you have to go and say that boy? You just lost us an entire day!"

"I couldn't help it, those people are the scum of the Wastes, assuming we'd just lie down. Someone has to take a stand against those assholes. Besides, you really think they were gonna give us a full three days?"

"I know you're right kid, but it still would've been wiser to keep your mouth shut. How the hell are we gonna defend this place against hundreds of raiders? Even if we could contact the Brotherhood's Citadel, even they don't have the force to take care of that army. We may be able to hold them off for a little while, but eventually they'd just swarm over us. And I still wanna know where the hell they all came from, there's no way the Capital Wasteland holds that many people, let alone that many raiders."

"I think they probably came from all over and found their life was easier with a big group. Less danger of being attacked. Anyways, two days ago I dropped off an Enclave Vertibird at the Citadel, so they'd have an easier time with their patrols."

"Not even a vertibird could take out this number of them, they wouldn't even need missiles to take it down. Just them shooting randomly into the sky would be enough to destroy the thing."

"I know. Years ago, I started building something that was almost immune to ground fire. If I can contact the Citadel, I can have them fly me to it so I can come back with it and help defend this place."

"How do we know it'll be you? And how do we know you'll come back?"

"You're just gonna have to trust me. And you'll definitely know when I come back. I don't plan on being quiet."


	6. Homecoming

"Well here you go Sonny." Moira handed me a ham radio connected to a fission battery she had installed in the side of it. "This should work, as long as you don't bump it too much, I'm not exactly sure how one of those works. I learned a great deal just from tinkering with that!"

"Thanks Moira."

"Oh, it was nothing." She headed back to her store. I looked around me; Simms was handing out firearms to people who he wanted to be on the front lines when the Raiders attacked. Jericho and Moira's merc already had their own assault rifles, and Stockholm with his rifle, but most others like Billy Creel and Doc Hoff needed something more than a pistol. He also handed out ammo, which Moira and some traders offered up for defense. The caravan guards said they'd help too, and were busy getting extra ammunition from their employers.

I, on the otherhand, was tinkering with the radio. Trying to find the right frequency was damn near impossible, I had no idea what it was or if they used different ones for every outpost. Wait a second... I remembered my last trek through the Mall. I had stopped at the Brotherhood's outpost in the Washington Monument to rest, and recover from a rather nasty encounter with a few Super Mutants. I remembered seeing a radio like this one there, and the frequency was.. 121.7? 127.1? 118.2? 119.8? Damn it! Okay, let's see... I used a process I called "memory recovery". Basically I thought of little things that happened to try and induce a mental image of what something bigger. Okay, a little clearer now. It was somewhere in the 110's, and I didn't think they were any zeroes... Some higher-numbers too, definately an "8" or a "9" somewhere... At least it narrows the selection down a bit.

I tuned to 116.8. "Anyone receiving please respond. I repeat, this is an emergency broadcast. Anyone receiving please respond, we need help as soon as possible! We are under siege." Nothing but crackling and white noise was the response. I was hoping not naming Megaton wouldn't deter them, but I didn't want to name it just in case more raiders happened to be listening. 116.9, repeated the same message. 117.8, 117.9, 119.8... I kept repeating the message. Listened for a few minutes, then repeated, adding on "This is NOT a recording. I repeat, this is NOT a recording, we need help NOW. Please respond."

Finally, after an hour of fiddling, I tuned it to 118.9."Anyone recieveing please respond! This is an emergency broadcast! We need help as soon as possible, we are under siege! I repeat, we are under siege and require immidiate assisstance!" I waited. Three minutes ticked by. "I repeat!" I cried into the mic despairingly, "This is NOT a recording! We are desperate, we need assisstance immiediately, anyone listening please respond!" I heard nothing but crackle. I was about to start tuning into other frequencies, when I heard:

"Hello there! Who is this? This channel is for Brotherhood broadcasts only." My eyes lit up. I called over Simms.

"What's up kid? You get that think to work?"

"Yeah! Listen." I paused, then keyed the mic to talk. "Thank god you answered! Who is this?"

"This is Paladin Vargis at the Washington Memorial Monument. Who is this?" I was ready to tear up, this idea had actually worked!

"Paladin Vargis, my name is Sonny. I am holed up in Megaton with the residents and many traders. A raider army has us surrounded, they are going to attack in two days unless we get help now! We don't have the manpower to fight them off!"

"Whoa kid, slow down." Vargis paused for a second. "Now, repeat what the hell's going on?"

I took a breath, and repeated the message. "This morning, a raider army surrounded Megaton, demanding everything we had or they would attack in two day's time."

"Okay, I'm writing this down so go slow." Another pause. "Okay, I'm ready."

"The traders had stopped in to offload their extra wares. The raiders shot rounds into the crowd. When the Megaton guard fired back, they almost killed him by firing at him with a missile launcher."

"Hang on a second. Where'd they get a rocket launcher? And how many are there?"

"They are very well armed, and we aren't quite sure on the numbers. We saw two hundred, and their leader told us another two hundred had surrounded the rear of Megaton. I'm not sure if he was bluffing or not, but I don't want to find out."

"Jesus kid! I don't even wanna think about how that many raiders formed a group without tearing each other apart. Even we can't push back that many people, even with that new Vertibird some guy named Mits dropped off."

"My name isn't Mits, it's Sonny!"

"So you're the one that pilot's been talking about."

"Yeah yeah yeah and the one who saved GNR, all that good stuff. But I need it back."

"I'm just manning the outpost here while the Lyon's Pride conducts a small raid into the Mall. I can give the Citadel frequency, so you can talk to them. It's one-two-one-point-seven. Got it? I'll let them know your going to be calling."

"Thanks Vargis. I'm tuning you out now." I switched the radio's dial to 121.7. "Here goes nothing Simms..."

"This is Sonny at Megaton hailing the Citadel. Please respond."

I heard Elder Lyons' voice come through the speaker after a minute. "Paladin Vargis has just briefed me on the situation. I'm sad to say, I should have seen this coming."

Simms looked like he was going to have a fit. He grabbed the mic from me. "Whaddya mean you 'should have seen this coming'! There could be four hundred raiders out there thirsty for our blood and you wanna tell me you knew this was going to happen?" He was drawing stares from Megaton citizens. "What the FUCK were you thinking!"

"Uh Simms... If you want to talk you have to hold down this button."

"Oh." He turned red. "I uhhh... um... Sorry I lost my temper, but kindly ask him what he means by what he said."

"Got it." I gently extracted the mic from Simms' shaking hands. "Elder Lyons, what do you mean?"

"Twenty years ago, when we first made the trek out here from the West, we crossed a vast expanse of land. The journey took months. But we saw land with cities. When we stopped in for more supplies, we heard rumours of large raider armies plundering the land, but mostly to the south-east. I should have known back then that they would eventually get bored and head north. I was hoping that they believed DC was an empty wasteland... But it appears this is not the case anymore."

I was silent for a few seconds. "Elder Lyons, I have a plan on how to stop them. I need that Vertibird I dropped off two days ago. I need to get a pick-up, then fly to my home. I have something there that will greatly increase the chances of us winning here."

"It doesn't happen to be that 'plane' Gary loves to talk about, would it?" Of course Gary would have told them my secrets.

"Yes, it would."

"From what he tells us it could do that job all by itself."

"I'm afriad he likes to exaggerate things a bit. I only have a limited supply of ammo on board, and the guns eat it up and a very high rate."

"That will be of no concern. He was hoping for it to be a surprise, but Gary asked the scribes to build you laser-mounts for it as a thank you gift from him, for helping him escape the Enclave. They weren't happy about it, but when I informed them that you were the reason we had the Vertibird and all the technology on board, they got right on it. No doubt in an attempt to get it out of the way so they could examine the Vertibird itself, but they did it all the same. All you have to do is mount it. Gary even explained the propellor mechanics, they even installed a nifty little device to stop if from ripping apart the propellor when you fire. Amazing what they can do when they're 'inspired', isn't it?" He let out a small laugh.

I was shocked that Gary would do something like that. Then again he doesn't know what I'm about to go through for him... At least the laser's ammunition is almost weightless compared to firearm rounds. "Yeah it is..." Really hoping to get moving along, I said, "Also tell them to install a ham radio attached to a fission battery in the Vertibird, and have an extra ready so I can mount it in the plane. For communication with you back here, I'm not sure how far the range is, but if we get back we should be able to contact you if we can talk here. We're gonna have to do this quick if we want to be ready in time."

"I'm listening."

I informed of my plan. Hook a rope with loops on the end of it to the side of the Vertibird, dangling down through an entry hatch. Under the cover of night, come in over Megaton and hover for only a second, letting me grab onto the rope before it took off again before the raiders could shoot it down, making it look like the Enclave was just inspecting things before moving on. He agreed, and asked when to send the troops he could spare to aid us. I told him to get them ready somewhere, and we'll tell him through the radio when to have them attack.

"Well, that was an interesting conversation," Simms remarked, "But what's gonna happen if the raiders attack early or suspect something?"

"Get the defenders here, and we'll think of something."

Thirty minutes later, Jericho, Billy Creel, Simms, and I were gathering at the center of a gaggle of onlookers. We had discussed things privately, and were ready to inform the rest of the people what what going to happen. Simms debriefed them.

"Everybody listen up! I'm only gonna go through this once, so pay attention." Once everyone had stopped talking, he started pointing at various places while talking. "Okay, our first line of defense is here-" He marked and area in front of the main gates. "We'll make a wall to protect ourselves while we shoot into the killing zone, the corridor into Megaton, and slow them down. You-" He pointed at Stockholm, and two others with sniper rifles- "Will set up as follows. One on the Water Purifier. One on the Jericho's house. And Stockholm, you be on top of Moriarity's to fire down at them. We'll block the sides ways so they can't spread out." He paused, and took another breath. "Nobody's down in the center by the Church of Atom or the Brass Lantern. That is the real killing zone, if they make it by the first line we wait until they get into there then drop debris behind them to cut off their re-inforcements. We will then throw grenades down into the midst of them down in the crater, while others pour on the fire. This should either make them retreat, or buy us enough time for Sonny here to get back with his secret weapon and take out the raiders outside from the air. While we are busy in here, the Brotherhood of Steel assault them from the ground once we block the entrance to Megaton so the raiders inside can't escape. They should be split in at least two by now, making it easy for us as well as for the Brotherhood to defeat the survivors."

One of the wide-eyed settlers, an old man by the name of Nathan, suggested, "What about mines? I'm sure Moira or someone has plenty of them. Or she could make them. That'll be sure to slow them down."

"I like that," Simms agreed, "I like it a lot. It'll slow down the crazies in front and stop them from flooding over the blocks we'll put up."

Moira piped up. "Well sure I have mines, that Vault stray brought me a bag of them back from Minefield. I must have almost three dozen, if I count in the ones I already was tinkering with to make a bigger explosion!"

Simms looked a little uneasy when he heard she had been fooling around with a bag of landmines. "Uh... Okay Moira, bring them here, then Sonny and Jericho will set them up where they see fit after they barricades go up, and flag off the areas with red so none of us will set one off by accident."

"Got it!" She jogged off to her store.

Someone else asked, "What if they push us back more? I mean, if the Brotherhood fails we can't take them all on, they'll simply overwhelm us if enough get organized and fire back. We don't know how long our ammo will last either." A number of heads nodded.

Simms narrowed his eyes and retorted, "We have plenty of ammo, and we'll make damn sure they don't get organized. IF, and I mean IF, something does go wrong, we'll regroup in Moriarty's and bar the doors. I'll get someone to cut and emergency exit in the back, and get charges set in case we have to blow through Megaton's wall behind Moriarty's to escape." Moriarty looked displeased about them using his bar as a final-stand holdout. "The saloon's defenses should be enough to stall them long enough for us to get out. Anyone else have any questions?"

Observing this, it occurred to me that Simms might have been preparing for something like this for years. I spoke, "Yeah I got one Sheriff. When do we get started?"

He smiled. "Now. Everyone, you know what to do, if you have any questions ask me, Sonny, Billy, or Jericho. Now get moving!"

At once everybody jumped into action. Me and Jericho started building our "wall" before the doors of Megaton. We took sheet metal from nearby buildings and propped it up with steel rods. We also found some heavier plating lower in the building, which we promptly ripped off and put in back of the sheet metal, realizing it could stop anything short of a missile or a mini-nuke. We also put up smaller, longer pieces sticking up, like one of those ancient castle walls. We managed to get our greedy little hands on a mini-gun, and mounted it on the Lone Wanderer's house.

Of course we got into a fight over who would use it; since I wasn't gonna use it and Jericho was the only one who knew how to set explosives we decided Billy Creel would man it. We told him his escape route; go out the back door and bring the minigun to Moriarty's, using the outer walkway the whole time, unseen until he decides to mount the gun up again.

The people of Megaton worked fast. Before sunset, barricades lined the walkways and paths, meaning only those behind them had access to the upper levels. Certain walkways were demolished for materials, but also to make sure there was no way a curious Raider would make it over the barricade and past the mines and flank us. By the time they had finished, the only path that led downward into the crater was the one by the main gate. All others had been blocked or taken down. Afterwords, Jericho and I had laid down mines in the entrance corridor, on some of the barricades to discourage them from trying to climb over, and a few extras Jericho would drop as the front-line defense fell back before blowing a walkway so Raiders couldn't follow. Megaton was ready for war.

"Well kid, I sure hope you're plan works."

"So do I Simms. So do I."

I got some shuteye, and set my alarm to 11:30 pm. After a couple hours' sleep, filled with uncomfortable dreams, I awoke. I could still hear the Raiders celebrating or something, I'm surprised it hadn't woken me up earlier. I dressed in my full armor, strapped my .44 magnum to my side, and my hunting rifle across my back. Holding my 10mm submachine gun in one hand, I found Simms waiting outside.

"Damn time you got up! I was just on the radio, your friend will be in here five." A little early, but at least I was ready.

"Okay, pick-up point is on top of Moriarity's. You sure you'll be okay without me?"

"We'll be fine." Simms looked a little worried. "Just as long as you get your ass back here in time."

"Will do. I've got about six-hours of fuel in my plane, notify me when you block their escape route and I'll be there in a minute or two. Since I have limited fuel, I'll leave at dawn and circle to the west until I get the signal to attack."

"Good good good, now get up there!" Simms hurried me, as we walked over to the saloon and I climbed a makeshift ladder to the roof. As I pulled myself up to the top, one of the citizens ran up to Simms and told him something. "Okay kid, he's almost here. Get ready, you've got about thirty seconds!"

"Alright!"

"Good luck, kid."

"Thanks, Simms." I scanned the sky; it would be almost impossible to hear the vertibird's rotors over the ruckus the Raiders were making outside. I caught a glimpse of something blocking out stars. There he was. The rope dangling out the side, black, gliding through the air. I heard a Raider start shouting, and it went silent. Except for the vertibird. The rope came closer, passing over the far side of Megaton's wall. The bird slowed to a hover in the middle of Megaton, and the rope swung out my way. I could see it wasn't gonna make it, but that must've been unknown to the pilot and soldier, because they didn't move. I heard the distinctive "whoosh" of a missile being fired. I sprinted towards the edge of the roof. Another "whoosh". I jumped, seeing the rope starting to fall back towards the ground. I stretched my arms out, barely getting my forearms through the loop on the end. I felt a yank and shot up like a rocket; the vertibird had put in full power to avoid the missiles.

My feet swung out in front of me as I started spinning and revolving on the rope. I saw lights and fire flying at me, and realized those were bullets and missiles. I felt a bullet ping off my crotch-plate. Soooo glad I made one. A missile flew under me, another by my right. I holstered my SMG and gave the middle finger to the raider army. It was another moment before I realized I was accelerating away, trailing behind the aircraft as more lights flew by me, so much it looked like you could walk on the lead. I felt a few more pings, and one bounce off my helmet. I looked up and saw sparks flying off the Vertibird. Shit.

A minute passed, and the rope was being hauled up, and me dangling on the end like a worm on fish hook. An arm reached out and pulled me onboard. "Nice to see you again, Mits."

"Good to see you too, Gary." I was panting. "And don't call me Mits." He grinned.

"Sure thing man. This is Paladin Krist."

I extended my hand, and the soldier firmly shook it. "Glad to meet you."

"You too. I'm here as an escort for you guys, or backup if need be, on orders from Elder Lyons."

I had been hoping Gary would be my tail gunner. Gary must've sensed this, because he then said, "I'm going to fly the Vertibird alongside you. Krist's gonna be your tail gunner, I already briefed him on everything he needed to know."

"Thanks." After that, me and Krist took to scanning outside while Gary flew us to the airfield.

We landed twenty minutes later, the sky still dark. "Get into the Hangar, make sure it's not trapped or there's any new inhabitants. Then find yourself a cot or a couch and get to sleep, we're gonna need it if we want to get everything set up tomorrow." I directed the order towards the Paladin and Gary. "I'm going to secure this bird here."

After ten minutes, I heard the "All clear!" signal and went inside. Nothing had changed since I had been there last. It had been less than a week, but it seemed like it had been months since I was here. Krist took the couch, I took my cot, and Gary found another cot in a storage room and laid it in the kitchen. It felt good to be home. 


End file.
